Traore Crosses To The Far Post

[Contrarian]

Maybe we should try and score goals by other means than simply playing down the flanks, hoping that the wide man can cross in the perfect ball under the pressure of being double/triple marked and for our only forward with any height to perfectly anticipate the cross and head it in.

How about targeting goals from
a) our centre midfielders playing the ball through to the forwards to run on to and shoot
b) our centre midfielders running with the ball and shooting
c) our centre midfielders whipping in dangerous corners for our defenders to power into the net

I see other teams do all the above regularly, yet similar Wolves goals are as rare as hens' teeth.

Also, how about our actual forwards do the same? Sidestep a defender and send in a powerful shot from 20 yards out? Other teams to that regularly, too. Ours either pass the ball out wide again or blast it at the legs of the defender in front of them.

I think it's because our forwards can't actually do any of that. Only Neto and Raul in the current squad have any real shooting ability. Neves used to have it , but I think it rotted away through having to support our defence for 3 years.

Fact is, we have created enough to score 5 or 6 more goals than we have. It was the finishing that let us down.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

His main problem is he is too static
Always waits for the ball to feet, then tries to beat usually 2/3 defenders yesterday 4 mostly
Ok he can do that,but why doesnt he run on to through balls,or at least get on the shoulder of the last man for that option to be played?
He is such a talent,but could be world class if he only varied his options,and gave more options to the rest of the team

 

[Fifty Niner]

Maybe we should try and score goals by other means than simply playing down the flanks, hoping that the wide man can cross in the perfect ball under the pressure of being double/triple marked and for our only forward with any height to perfectly anticipate the cross and head it in.

How about targeting goals from
a) our centre midfielders playing the ball through to the forwards to run on to and shoot
b) our centre midfielders running with the ball and shooting
c) our centre midfielders whipping in dangerous corners for our defenders to power into the net

I see other teams do all the above regularly, yet similar Wolves goals are as rare as hens' teeth.

I thought that was Nuno’s tactic not Bruno’s! We were seeing early signs of them creating chances from all areas but yesterday they seemed to have reverted back to Nuno ball albeit with a bit more urgency.

 

[groundhogwolf]

I thought that was Nuno’s tactic not Bruno’s! We were seeing early signs of them creating chances from all areas but yesterday they seemed to have reverted back to Nuno ball albeit with a bit more urgency.

Have to agree, playing him wide even Brentfords defenders made sure he couldnt come inside, made sure he was pushed wide, enen if his crosses had been better, we were never beating their centre halves, I think he will be benched once the contract is signed, in preperation for a move in January.

 

[Focke Wolf]

I think one of the problems with regards to Traore’s crossing starts way before he’s even reached the by line. When he first receives the ball he invariably waits with the ball, or dribbles slowly with it , whilst he baits and draws in the opposition. Although it can be exciting to watch the ensuing battle, what it really does is give the defence time to reorganise themselves in preparation for the inevitable cross into the box. When it does get crossed into the box it’s normally left for one or maybe two attackers to do something with it against a now organised defence. To do anything with the crosses he put in yesterday would need us to sign the Harlem Globetrotters pretty sharpish. My own opinion is that a hard rifled ball into the box along the floor can be just as effective as a lofted ball, especially if our attackers are up against central defenders the size of Big Bad John.

I think honestly that one of the main reasons his crosses rarely amount to anything is because we don’t get enough players forward in and around the area to actually challenge for the cross. ( Apart from when Bruno had most of the clubs attacking threat on at one time towards the end of the game yesterday.) I don’t want to big up a team who’s policy of game management involves players sitting down pretending to be injured for a lot of the game, but I watched the Brentford players during the match busting a gut to get both forward in attack, and then back again to support their defence. That’s why they won in my opinion.

 

[Coeur de Loup]

Why not tell the left wing back to stand on the corner of the penalty box?

 

[A3wolf]

We should definitely try to always have one of our players anticipating an 'overhit' cross and that is the main issue for me.

Actually think Traore's delivery after beating several men and running at full pelt is way better than our delivery and execution by other players in static situations when we have all the time in the world such as corners, and free kicks outside the box.

 

[Deak77]

He booted one cross straight into the South Bank yesterday, pretty much summed up our eñtire performance.

 

[Ian]

Im going to get pelters for this but here goes. Adama good as he at what he does limits what we do as a Team, he is an individual more than a Team player, rarely if ever does he run at a player as soon as he gets the ball, and he just as rarely runs behind onto the ball, when he doesnt have the ball his off ball movement is very limited, and when he does have the ball lots of our players never mind the opposition dont know what he is going to do with it, Then there is the end product goals 1 or 2 per season, and crosses are mostly hit and hope.
Adama has pace to die for but are we using him in the best position ?, personally i think he is best used through the middle where his pace is more effective and he can use his pace to his advantage, whereas wide right he gives the opposing defenders time to get back and cut out the occasional good cross, what we saw yesterday was the best and worst of Adama, we used the get it to Adama and hope he can do something if he cant we are stuffed.

Adama was a long way off being our worst player yesterday, how Trincao stayed on and RAN got splinters im still trying to get my head around, I dont know what Ait Nouri has done to upset Bruno but he should be getting more game time.

To be fair first couple of games Adama was more direct and driving at the box with the ball rather than his stop start approach and he did make runs off the defender , hence his one on one chances.
Against Brentford he reverted to type in the 2nd half but still was by far our most dangerous player...... but I nearly could have kicked the TV in when we had Podence and Hwang free on the far post and he over hit it.

I do agree though and have said many times Id play him more central.

 

[SA Wolf]

Not wanting to criticise Traore's crosses as they are not all bad, but someone with the speed and trickery of Adama should power into the box. Defenders could not touch him or risk giving away penalties. Can't remember the last time we had a penalty and we should be getting loads with Traore, Trincao and Neto (when fit)!

 

[groundhogwolf]

Not wanting to criticise Traore's crosses as they are not all bad, but someone with the speed and trickery of Adama should power into the box. Defenders could not touch him or risk giving away penalties. Can't remember the last time we had a penalty and we should be getting loads with Traore, Trincao and Neto (when fit)!

Agreed, but then there ar a few things you would expect from someone with his pace.

 

[YamYamWolf]

He put 4 great balls into the box on Saturday.

One that was easier to score than miss and raul ****ed it.
One to the back post that took the keeper out of the game and would have been a tap in if trinaco and podence didnt make the same run
One wipped across at pace but not one player made a move for it. With any touch it was in.
Another that took the keeper out of the game and no one gambling on it.

Adama is not the problem. The **** poor attack/decision making of runs is.

 

[Wolves Bard]

Absolutely 100% this.

Yes correct he doesn't look up to cross and has no idea where ball is going

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Also, how about our actual forwards do the same? Sidestep a defender and send in a powerful shot from 20 yards out? Other teams to that regularly, too. Ours either pass the ball out wide again or blast it at the legs of the defender in front of them.

I think it's because our forwards can't actually do any of that. Only Neto and Raul in the current squad have any real shooting ability. Neves used to have it , but I think it rotted away through having to support our defence for 3 years.

Fact is, we have created enough to score 5 or 6 more goals than we have. It was the finishing that let us down.

Shooting from 20 yards is almost always a bad idea.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

i think these loopy crosses are bloody hopeless personally
theres a reason you don't see many teams doing it very often the success rate just isn't good

Watch how we scored against watford

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

You've hit the nail on the head there.
There's zero mobility in our midfield so we're forced to go down the wings.

Inverting the wingers helps, as they're less predictable and can cut inside and run at Central defenders, but this was a massive problem under Nuno too.

Raul was so used to a complete lack of reliable service he drops deep to collect the ball, he's still doing it now when he should be playing on the shoulder and running in behind.

We had one player capable of picking the ball up in midfield and driving at the players, and we let him go on loan to Sheffield United.

4 2 3 1 with hwang up front and Jimenez in 10 would be worth a try

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Why not tell the left wing back to stand on the corner of the penalty box?

I was thinking yesterday watching Spurs of how much we missed Doherty’s runs into the back post. Marcal isn’t really making them into the box and if they came from the opposite side, even when Semedo does get into the box you’d favour the keeper.

*I know Doc didn’t play, just thinking about him!

 

[Peszkywolf]

Marcel could and should be getting to the back post if we're playing wing backs. Jiminez well we all know it's a problem we just hope will come good soon. If ever.
We can't blame Traore for our runs into the box and actual shoddy finishing.

 

[Cookyssweetleftfoot]

For that Neves and Semedo would have to pass for him to run on. Time after time yesterday Neves could have passed the ball between 2 Brentford players, but instead played it to Traore's feet, which slows him down to a standstill.

Playing it to the feet of one of the fastest players in the league instead of forward for him to run on to and get an early cross in is stupid. To do it time and time again is insane.

I am not sure if you’ve watched Adama since he joined us, but he rarely make runs off the ball and he chooses to stand and wait for the ball to be played to his feet.
This does sadly have the effect of slowing attacks.
I would love to see him making runs inside the opposition full backs.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

I’d be telling him just to cross it hard and low.

To who? Og is the only likely scorer there.

 

[Minimalist]

To who? Og is the only likely scorer there.

Which is still better than sending the cross out for a throw in or looping one up to podence....

 

[Adrian_Monk]

As always the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Traore's end product isn't perfect, we know that. If it was he wouldn't be at Wolves. That said, his crosses aren't always bad. If he's putting 4-5 good crosses in per game, which he is on a good day, then we have to be at least testing the keeper. I think you have to play the numbers game with Traore and try to improve the outcome of his successful crosses, whilst working on his delivery technique, and hope that at least one of them improves sufficiently to reap rewards.

When Traore loops crosses in, our headed efforts have been typically weak. This is characteristic of the product of a slower cross as it loses the power of a driven cross. Not only this, but the recipient has no alternative other than to head on goal because we only have one player - the recipient - in the box. This is what Traore was doing when he and Raul went on that run of assists and goals last year, and teams naturally wised to it.

When Traore powers the ball in, it's usually overpowered and goes flying out. It seems like he's been told to put more power on because until recently he wasn't, and that would map with teams working out his floated crosses. You can understand why he's been asked to mix it up, but it's a weak solution to a bigger problem.

The problem being he has too few options. There is nobody attacking flick-ons or head-downs, nobody (Neves or Moutinho) offering an option at the left corner of the penalty area. No Marcal offering a second crossing option. On the occasions that they do, the ball just works it's way across the box and fizzles out.

What's the solution? The midfielders need to be more dynamic. They need to offer Traore more options. Without Dendoncker, there's not much merit in high balls into the area especially while Raul is struggling to head the ball, unless the midfielders attack the area for loose balls or headed assists. Neves needs to move away from attempting to do another Derby, the opposition are wise to it. The wing backs need to offer options. On the side we attack on, having 5 at the back means one of the centre halves can drop in and cover - that's the point of playing this system. Finally they need to do something other than lose the ball playing it across the box, giving the opposition a counter attack. We looked like we had cracked this final one until Brentford but it was painful to see them picking us off. Not easy solutions but things we can definitely do better.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

We have seen it for a couple of years now. Traore tends to hang crosses to the far post. They are not necessarily bad crosses.

We never have anyone anticipating this who makes a run far post. Even though Traore crosses there almost every time.

The most probable reason he crosses there every time is that he has often at least 2 defenders crowding him, which rules out the near post cross or the cut back. He’s getting the ball in the best possible scoring position that he is able to, yet nobody is there.

A more attacking midfielder would of course helped, but we don’t have that due to another poor transfer window.

Yes, of course, brilliant idea. Let's build the team around Traore. Just give him the ball - to his feet of course because he likes to slow play down and draw 3 defenders before driving for the bye line - and employ a few giants up front to anticipate his crosses.

Of course we will need to put 4/5 players in a line stretching from the near post to the corner flag because with his aim you never know where the ball is going to drop.

Let's give him £120k a week while we are at it.

 

[Timberwolf]

You can see why Moore from Cardiff was a target.

Not unless he is 12ft tall

 

[WolvTown]

Until we go to four at the back, we wont have enough bodies attacking the box to cover all the positions Adama's crosses could end up.

Which takes us back to fixing our defense

 

[Loefah]

Maybe he should try picking out a man instead for a change. These hopeful crosses never come to anything.

 

[SakosRightFoot]

Maybe he should try picking out a man instead for a change. These hopeful crosses never come to anything.

Its just not that easy, often he’s running at full pace after beating 2 defenders and trying to whip the ball in from the byline. The problem is not Traore it’s that when he was doing it 2 years ago there was Jota and often Jonny and possibly Dendoncker making runs in there, Doherty often ran inside of him too. We simply haven’t had that with Jonny injured and the other 2 gone. An in form Raul would’ve had a hat trick from Traore crosses on Saturday.

For me Hwang has to play in place of Trincao if we’re playing Adama